The control panel that you choose when building your website is a critical task as the overall web hosting experience of the user depends on the functionalities and the usability of the control panel that your web hosting provider will be offering. Control panels are one of the most commonly used methods for controlling servers.
However, despite being the most commonly-used control panels, both of them differ a lot in their nature. Selecting the right control panel for your business will help you in managing your website with minimum effort and hassle. Needless to say, these control panels are simple yet effective for website management.
In this article, I’ll be discussing an extensive comparison between the two most commonly used control panels- cPanel and Plesk.
cPanel
The cPanel control panel is the most widely used one offering an intuitive and user-friendly interface that can make website management tasks easy for its users. Using cPanel offers a smoother and more seamless hosting experience to the users. You can perform Linux hosting with cPanel. It also offers a number of tools to the users like- backup and database tools.
Plesk
Similar to cPanel, Plesk is also one of the most widely-used control panels for Windows hosting. It can prove to be an ideal option for users who’re going to use Windows-based servers. With Plesk Panel, you can easily regulate all the hosting-related tasks for your website with ease.
USER INTERFACE & EASE OF USE
cPanel
The dashboard offered by cPanel is much simpler to use and navigation is also quite easy. cPanel can prove to be a great option for those users who’ve less experience regarding hosting. cPanel has a better user-friendly interface when compared to Plesk.
In the cPanel hosting panel, all the sections are clearly marked out. thus, making it easy for the users to find all the required information with ease. Users can easily navigate from one page to another without facing any issues.
Plesk
On the other hand, the dashboard that Plesk uses is a bit different from cPanel. The features used in the Plesk dashboard are dependent more on the individual settings of the website. The processes and activities taking place in this control panel are relatively more complex and focus more on the website and domain than features.
Plesk control panel has a similar panel to the WordPress admin panel and this is the reason why Plesk is preferred more by the developers and professionals.
SUPPORT & BACKUPS
cPanel
cPanel is quite rich in features and specifications, providing value-added benefits to the users. It has a top-notched email management functionalities program, making it easier to have quick access to the users’ accounts. Talking about backups, these backups are performed manually and stored within the directory of the local backup of the user server.
Plesk
With Plesk, you get some really amazing specifications related to backups and restores allowing the user to perform –
- backup the complete server as needed
- backing up user accounts one by one using relevant sites
- backing up individual users’ subscriptions
Plesk backup is mostly stored in either of the two locations- Internal Plesk Storage and External FTP storage. Its storage is present at the Plesk server whereas the external FTP storage is present on the external server situated on the local network/web.
FUNCTIONALITIES & FEATURES
cPanel
You must be well aware that cPanel is a Linux-based panel involving WHM and cPanel. WHM is used for admin tasks related to the server. It provides a user-friendly interface having complete control of all the features like- cPanel/WHM. cPHulk, AutoSSL, and some essential features related to security control.
Plesk
The Plesk control panel supports both- Windows and Linux operating systems. The Linux OS includes- CentOS, Debian, Cloudlinux 6-7, Ubuntu, Red Hat Enterprise 6-7, Virtuozzo. There exists a combined automation process required for admins as well as users.
OPERATING SYSTEMS
cPanel
The cPanel control panel is restricted only to the Linux Platform. Some of the OS that is compatible with cPanel include-
- CentOS
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux
- Cloud Linux
- Amazon Linux
Plesk
On the other hand, Plesk is a more diversified control panel and is compatible with both- Windows and Linux Servers. Some of the major operating systems that Plesk supports include-
- Ubuntu
- Cloud Linux
- Debian
- CentOS
Concluding Remarks
In this article, I have provided a comparison between the two most commonly used control panels. It is completely up to you as a user to choose the best one that can cater to your business hosting needs. Each of these has its own set of advantages for its users.
If you’re looking for a trusted Web hosting provider, then don’t be hesitant in reaching out to the bodHOST team, which offers a complete solution for all your hosting needs.